After forcibly removing over 120,000 Japanese Americans from their homes and incarcerating them in the interior U.S., the government lost no time in registering Nisei boys for the draft.
The January 22, 1943 issue of the Topaz Times announced the beginning of registration for the draft in Topaz. The article estimated that this compulsory registration would affect about 250 youths in the camp.
On January 26, 1943, the Topaz Times announced that 57 young men had registered for the draft in the first few days, as well as seven Issei.
By some accounts, there were about 250 Boy Scouts in Topaz. One of them was Irvin Hirabayashi. He and his brother, Robert, had been Boy Scouts in San Mateo, CA before the War. One morning, as the Topaz Scouts raised the American flag in their daily ritual, a gust of desert wind tore the flag from its moorings and it fluttered toward the ground. One Scout ran to catch it before it touched down. That was Irvin.
When Irvin turned 18 in March 1944, he became a “no-no” boy. Read Nancy Hirabayashi’s story, “Alternating Currents.”
The Topaz Stories Team
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Media Coverage:
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)